Nonfulminant herpes simplex encephalitis as a cause for mesial temporal sclerosis.
Although mesial temporal sclerosis has been recognized for more than 100 years, its etiology remains unknown. It is proposed that a common infectious agent, herpes simplex virus type-1, may cause this disorder by means of a nonfulminant infection of mesial temporal lobe structures, which is resolved by the immune system and becomes gliotic in the course of healing by the central nervous system. Brain sections from a long-term experiment in a model of herpes simplex encephalitis reveal such a scar, which shows a high concentration of glial fibrillary acidic protein, without any evidence of residual herpes antigen, by immunocytochemistry.
Schlitt
M
M
Department of Neurosurgery, University of South Alabama Medical Center.
Bucher
A P
AP
Quindlen
E A
EA
Jennings
R
R
Bastian
F O
FO
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000473:pathology*; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D011817:Rabbits; D012598:Sclerosis; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*